whitewolffandomcom-20200213-history
Camazotz
Camazotz were werebats, one of the extinct Changing Breeds of the World of Darkness. Overview Few among the Fera remember the Camazotz, though the Mokolé keep their memory alive through Mnesis. They recall that the Camazotz were Gaia's other messengers, counterparts of the Corax who flew through the night and the southern lands which did not have ravens. The relationship between Bat and the Camazotz was stronger than that between most Fera and their spirit fathers. Bat loved his children with all his heart, knowing only too well of the burden to remain mistrusted and shunned by his cousins. He lavished gifts and advice upon the Camazotz, even going so far as teaching them a special kind of blood magic after the European Camazotz were exterminated by the Garou during the War of Rage. When his children were nearly exterminated, Bat's mind cracked and he reemerged with a split personality, one in the service of Gaia and one in the service of the Wyrm. The Gaian personality managed to fight against its Wyrmish counterpart until he saw the War of Tears in a vision that drove him over the edge and fully into the embrace of the Wyrm. History The Camazotz were all but destroyed in the War of Rage, and later exterminated by the Black Spiral Dancers. A small population of Camazotz managed to survive in South America, but they were wiped out in the 1600s by Garou accompanying the Spanish Conquistadors. The Shadow Lords among the invaders were greatly alarmed by the werebats' chiropteran shapes and blood rituals, which reminded them of their ancient enemies, the Tzimisce vampires. Believing them to be servants of the Wyrm, the Shadow Lords systematically wiped them out; the last Camazotz was killed by a Garou named Dark Claw of Vengeance. The Shadow Lords' crime remains a secret outside the tribe, but it is believed that the spiritual death scream of the last werebat triggered a chain of events in the Umbra that led to the creation of the Storm Eater. After their destruction, the werebat totem, Bat, fell to the Wyrm. In recent years, though, a young Shadow Lord descended from Dark Claw of Vengeance has begun to make amends for the slaughter of the werebats, and have even managed to redeem an aspect of the Bat totem. A handful of Umbral travelers claim that the Camazotz are not yet dead. Though they have no totem, the last werebats still serve Gaia as spies and messengers throughout the Deep Umbra. They are said to leave messages in dead-drops, and to give information in ways that the recipient never knows who delivered it. Some Nuwisha and Corax — the most experienced Umbral travelers of all the Changing Breeds — have tried to confirm these rumors. All of them have failed. Though they lived for far longer than many Changing Breeds believe, when their totem fell to the Wyrm, the Camazotz became extinct. Breeds The Camazotz reproduced via a ritual not unlike one used by the Corax, but this ritual went defunct when Bat fell to the Wyrm, dooming his children to extinction. To become a werebat, infant humans or bats had to undergo a ritual that could only be held in special Umbral caverns. Because all Camazotz were created via this ritual, werebats had no Auspices and no metis breeds. Forms The Camazotz had four forms and one additional that could be accessed via a special gift. * Homid - A normal human * Apterous - Near-human, who could not fly, but climb exceptionally well * Crinos - The war-form of the Camazotz * Megachiroptera - A giant bat with a wingspan of 5 feet * Microchiroptera - A swarm form that split the Camazotz into a dozen small batsThis was functionally similar to the Crawlerling form of the Ananasi, except that the bats could fly, but not inject poison or spin webs The first four forms are available by default to any Camazotz. The Microchiroptera form was only available to those Camazotz who took the Level Three Gift Thousand Wings, or took the Merit of the same name. Camazotz with the Merit do not have the Megachiroptera form. Camazotz who started the game with the Merit who later learn the Thousand Wings Gift gain the Megachiroptera form instead. Culture The Camazotz were a highly social Breed who lived in egalitarian swarms of between a dozen and a hundred members. They often lived in caverns alongside their bat Kinfolk. While inclined to secrecy, they attempted to maintain friendly and open relations with other shapeshifters. Gifts and Rituals The Camazotz gifts of speed, stealth, and heightened perception made them excellent spies who would keep what they discovered between their allies and Gaia. One of their strengths, as well as one of the major reasons that the Garou feared them, was that it was exceptionally difficult to know if one of the Camazotz was listening to a conversation. Step Sideways The Camazotz could only step sideways into the Near Umbra if they were in the shadows. A special Level Two Gift they learned could allow them to step sideways anywhere, but they did so as if the Gauntlet was 2 points higher than it would normally be. A powerful Level Five gift could allow them to step sideways into the Deep Umbra, but they can only do this in the shadows. Relationship with others The Camazotz became withdrawn from their brethren after the War of Rage, mistrusting any Fera who still consorted with the wolves. Their relation with the Mokolé, however, was congenial. The Camazotz of the Eastern Hemisphere withdrew from their allies among the Beast Courts not long after the War of Rage. Although they still served the Emerald Mother, the Asian Camazotz became even more insular and secretive. As time went on, the Camazotz began to strain their alliances with other Changing Breeds. In Asia, the Camazotz refused to accept that the Hakken and Stargazers were not complicit in the murder of werebats across Europe and North America. Driven and obsessed, they shunned the Beast Courts for tolerating the Garous' presence and vanished (when Bat himself became mad after the massacre in South America) to the Australian colonies of their kind. The Mokolé and Bunyip accepted them and tried to ease their pain, but could not help them, as the Camazotz failed to soothe their patron. The last Camazotz colony had vanished into the Umbra by the time the first European Garou set a foot on Australian soil. Gallery Camazotz_homid.jpg|Camazotz in homid form Camazotz_VS_Garou.jpg|Camazotz fought the Garou when Europeans arrived in the Americas Fera_-_New_World_-_1500_cWOD.jpg|Typical Fera of the New World around 1500 CE. Camazotz in the middle References * * * Category:Fera Category:Werewolf: The Apocalypse glossary